You've done a rebrand now what

15.04.26 | By Clara Daley | blogs

You've done a rebrand... now what?

Betts and Willow & Blake are the perfect fit

Rebrands. We picture a big bang. A dramatic before and after. A curtain lift followed by thunderous applause.

Betts had its Cinderella moment in October 2025.

A new logo with one foot in legacy and one in modernity. Elevated packaging drenched in oxblood. A playful tone of voice that mixes idioms. A brand platform that’s classic with a twist. Nine months of data analysis and creative collaboration birthed a fashion-forward, premium brand that was previously better known for children’s school footwear.

The internet approved. It’s been called a “sexy rebrand” and a major “glow up” (thanks Sal from @twobrokechicks) leaving TikTok girls asking, “who have they captured at Betts… WHO did their rebrand?”

But the work doesn’t end when the rebrand goes live.

So… what happens after a brand steps into a new era?

Creative with a twist

Willow & Blake and Betts work creatively under the same roof. We act less like an external agency partner and more like a collaborative extension of their creative and marketing team.

Each month, we create product page copy, social content, eDMs, digital campaigns and Substack articles. Our objectives? One: to accurately bring the new brand to life. Two: to help Betts deliver on the commercial outcomes of the rebrand.

Chloe Paratore, Director of eCommerce & Marketing, says:

“Every brand wants to stand out. Willow & Blake’s point of difference is creative thinking. We can come to them with a brief, and they’ll think up a creative answer that cuts through the noise. Take round toed shoes. Yes, you can describe its product features. But customers have heard this a thousand times before. Instead, the team tells a story. It’s this creative response that makes it sell.”

The magic is in the messaging. Copy can set the tone for the entire rollout of a product and visual campaign.

Let’s skim a competitor’s product description. It says: “The [loafer] is a classic penny style design with subtle dimple detailing around the toe and a slim, refined sole. An elevated staple made for season-to-season wear.”

Sure, this description does the job. But who knows which brand it belongs to?

So our loafer description says: “Is your life a mess? If you wear loafers, no one will ever know. Made from sleek leather and a sophisticated ruched detail, HENLEY looks like it got straight As at Oxbridge. Style with white socks and a general air of nonchalance.”

What’s our secret sauce? We open with a short sentence to hook the reader. Then, we get into the product details. But we don’t just state facts. “It has an 8cm heel” isn’t enough. We explain why it matters: “A balanced 8cm heel, curved arch and considered fit support you all night long.” The ending is our opportunity to stick in the customer’s mind. It needs to embody our brand platform, classic with a twist, and a product benefit.

We know what women want

Brand platforms. Yes, we mentioned it before. But this idea is important enough to deserve a reprise.

Our creative director, Bri Nixon, famously says that a brand platform is more important than a tagline. (To be fair: sometimes they’re the same, sometimes they’re different.) It’s a single creative idea that describes the way your brand lives in people’s brains.

For example: Tourism Tasmania. “Come down for air.” A call to arms to escape the stresses of modern life and feel freedom. Nike. “Just do it”. From the most hardcore athletes to gentle joggers, everyone is invited to join in.

Willow & Blake created “Classic with a twist” for the new Betts. It balances timeless style with contemporary edge. Bri describes it as, “one foot in high-fashion and one foot in fun.”

Women are endlessly bombarded by sales messaging. 33% of marketers send weekly emails. As consumers, we’re practically experts in being sold to. Now, our tolerance for boring messaging that doesn’t add value is beneath the floor.

Think about Reformation. The internet is obsessed with their marketing. Entire Substacks dedicated to the art of the Reformation subject line. Tweets questioning the sanity of their copywriting team. (And yes, it’s clearly a copywriting team. ChatGPT could never.)

Women want brands that make shopping a good time. Betts’ brand platform gives us permission to play.

How does it work?

Chloe Paratore, Director of eCommerce & Marketing, says:

“Email marketing is so powerful. We’re in our customers’ inbox multiple times a week. Instead of one person trying to think of a million ways to sell a pointed toe dress boot, we use our retainer to get a variety of brains working on it. It creates a sense of variety for our customer.”

Our eDMs sell shoes and a story.

This is how it works. We receive a loose theme (maybe boots for festivals), some stunning product images shot by the Betts marketing team, and we’re off. As a copywriter working on this retainer (breaking the fourth wall here!) my aim is to make the person reviewing my work laugh out loud at least once.

Take a look at some of our recent eDMs for Betts.

One foot in high-fashion. One foot in fun. One (imaginary third) foot in conversion.

The secret to a happy (agency/client) relationship

Q&A with Betts Shareholder & CMO-at large Jess Hatzis

Jess Hatzis is no stranger to building brands.

She co-founded and CMO’d frank body, transforming an idea into a skincare company found in bathrooms all over the world that’s worth over $100m.

As fractional CMO-at large of Betts Shoes (and co-founder of Willow & Blake), Jess helped the brand step into a new era in 2025.

We thought we’d pop the hood and let Jess tell you directly when a retainer is the right answer.

Q: Hey Jess. Great shoes. What are you wearing today?

A: I’m wearing our new Winnie Boot - our first experiment in a higher price point, full leather finish boot which is almost sold out. It might be the only reason I was happy for it to be cold today.

Q: Let’s get to business. You’ve started brands that retained end-to-end control of the creative process (for example frank body). And you’ve also worked for brands that partner with creative agencies. When is it the right choice to do it yourself? When should you engage an agency?

A: Engaging an agency means you have immediate access to pre-vetted top talent. Talent that may be inaccessible otherwise as often they don’t want to work internally and only on one brand - it’s the creative variety that keeps them interested.

Executing a brand well comes down to good taste and having a good eye: if you have a good technical designer on your team who isn’t deeply invested in what is occurring in the cultural zeitgeist and couldn’t immediately tell you how to execute the new version of the brand, then it’s best to get agency support to roll out the new brand as you train that person up.

Is there a cost associated with the agency? Yes. However in the case of Betts, the assets Willow & Blake created outperformed internal assets 10 to 1 - now with time learning from the agency, our team are able to produce assets that have far better commercial outcomes. It’s a no brainer to me.

When businesses go through a rebrand, there is an expectation that internal teams can switch gears immediately, which isn’t always possible for every team member and it’s not reasonable of leadership to expect. This is where an agency can support you. Then, over time when your team has the strategic and creative ability to do so - you can move things internally.

Q: Your Director of eCommerce & Marketing, Chloe Paratore, described the Betts x Willow & Blake work flow as “easy and reliable”. (Go team!) What’s the secret to a happy retainer relationship?

A: Willow as an agency is very responsive to feedback, there is no ego in the work, but we also respectfully challenge clients and wrestle the brief in detail, especially when we have an insight that underpins the work and progresses it to a better spot - that’s our job - but we also always listen to feedback and iterate as required. We see this as a really crucial part of the agency-brand success story: because an agency has access to so many clients, case studies, categories and conversations, they can have an unbiased view as to what could work with less emotional attachment to certain ideas or products.

Q: Marketing teams are under a lot of pressure. They’re constantly told to do more with less. Deadlines are shorter. When brands get it wrong, the commentary online is louder. What advice would you give to brands trying to decide if they should set up a retainer?

A: An agency partnership (the right one) can be one of the best ways to bolster a resource and budget light marketing department. I am a huge believer in squeezing all the juice out of organic channels before I start paying for sales - and to do that we need strong, emotive creativity. Agencies are brilliant at that. We have seen a huge uplift in revenue and repeat purchase rate from organic channels because of our new comms and creative strategy.

Strengthening the partnership and the work goes both ways: a good agency partnership is based on trust and mutual respect. Chloe is a brilliant leader and people manager and this extends to how she briefs, edits and manages all of her agency partners. Briefing ahead of time is also key to a good retainer structure. Your agency isn't your employee, they have time allocated in their schedules for clients and generally can’t drop everything to turn things around on the same day because you failed to brief something on time - many clients forget this and don’t plan accordingly. That’s when timelines can’t be met, the work is rushed and everyone is frustrated. Being well planned and giving your agency ample time to do what they do well will always mean your creative and commercial results are better. Just like it works with your internal team.

Q: Thanks Jess. I’m heading off to drinks at Chin Chin… and you’ve inspired me to pick up a pair of leather boots on the way.

Play with your shoes

The best partnerships fit together like a left and a right shoe.

The internet will tell you lots of things about agency retainers. They’re like marriage, outcome and value are more important than input and output, the most common trap is unclear expectations, agencies need to be managed, communicate your strengths and weaknesses, et cetera, et cetera.

Ask the creative team what we think? It’s about a clear brief. Belief in the product. And creative trust.

Give us an inch and we’ll run a mile in our new season sneakerinas. That’s the key to operating as one big strappy family.

Play on.